Gloria now open to talks with Estrada

Let’s talk, but...

Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is now willing to talk with President Estrada, but only to discuss the Chief Executive’s graceful exit from power.

This developed as House Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City) rejected the President’s suggestion to let the people decide through a referendum whether he should keep his post.

"I am against (a referendum)," said Belmonte. "A lot of people want the impeachment process to go on. This will hurdle the House. The next fight is in the Senate."

Speaking in her weekly radio program, Arroyo said she is willing to meet with the President but only if the agenda is his resignation.

"Meeting is fine as long as it’s private and it depends on what the agenda will be," she said.

Arroyo stressed that she has not changed her position against attending the National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Monday. She explained that the meeting will not help resolve the present political crisis "because the best solution now is his (Mr. Estrada’s) resignation."

Arroyo also rejected the President’s proposal to call for a referendum, saying the people’s sentiment is now obvious. She advised the President to hear the people’s cry during today’s rally at the EDSA Shrine.

"Basta tumuloy na lang tayo sa pagkilos sa EDSA at doon mapapakinggan niya ang taong bayan (Let’s just go on with the EDSA protest action and there he will know what the people wants)," she said.

The President went on television last Monday to offer Arroyo and the opposition his hand of reconciliation and to urge the Vice President to lead the Economic Coordinating Council.

However, Arroyo rejected the offer pointblank and said there is no other solution to the crisis the country is facing other than the President’s resignation.

"He already lost the confidence of the business sector," she said.

Meanwhile, Arroyo noted yesterday that when she assumes the presidency, she will already be addressed as "President" and not as "acting President." And she pointed out that as President, she can nominate members of Congress to assume the vice presidency as mandated by the Constitution.

This early, she said she already has people in mind to nominate for vice president once she assumes the presidency.

However, she declined to give the names of these people. "I have them in mind but I’ll still have to go on a process of consultation," she said.

A close associate of Arroyo said, though, that she is considering Sen. Raul Roco, Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona and Senate President Franklin Drilon to be her vice president once she becomes president.

The associate added that Arroyo could even nominate Belmonte or any graduating congressman to take over her post.

On the other hand, other sources said Arroyo might likely pick Roco or Drilon to "return a favor" to them.

Roco, who has been a staunch critic of the vice president, recently agreed to join Arroyo’s camp while Drilon resigned from the ruling Laban ng Masang Pilipino party to back calls for the President’s resignation.

Arroyo and Drilon met yesterday afternoon reportedly to discuss some legal and political concerns. She said she has also talked with Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara, the running mate of Mr. Estrada in 1998, about her prospects.

Angara is still in China and will be back on Monday. "We talked," Arroyo said. "But let’s just wait for his announcement on Monday."

According to Arroyo, her foremost concern right now is to give Mr. Estrada a graceful exit so as not to embarass the millions of Filipinos who voted for him in 1998.

"It’s not a happy occasion for Filipinos to declare the leader whom they freely and popularly elected president as someone who has betrayed their trust. Yet we must now confront the truth even as we need to move forward quickly and contain the economic fallout from this scandal," she said.